1. Field of the Invention
The invention which is referred to in this specification with the aid of the additional drawings attached, is an installation which makes it possible, in optimal form and with a high rate of yield, to collect oils and fuels spilled at sea, such as crude oil and the like. This not only avoids the ecological disasters caused by the breakup or sinking of large oil-tankers, but also uses resources for recovering such fuels with minimum costs and so that, once recycled, they can be useful to society. Said installation makes use of a surface cascade or overflow system, inside a set of semi-floating funnels fitted on a platform. They are operated by floating buoys so that a fine layer of oil-water flows on the furface of said funnels, of some two centimetres thickness, and taking advantage of the fact that fuels float on the surface of the sea. Control of the flow of liquid in cascade form into the funnels is calculated and designed to be done intermittently so that, first, all the water of the layer taken in enters: should water enter continuously, the oil would not. The entry of the water-oil flow is automatically regulated so that, as the collecting tanks fill, less liquid enters, thereby improving performance. The final phase or process of the installation consists of an elevation pump for the oil-water mix collected in the tanks, taking it up to the surface inside some tanks where the oil is separated from the water which has been mixed in the process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The technique currently used to collect energy products such as oil spilled at sea takes in a variety of procedures: one involves the use of special boats which, as they move forward, collect the upper layer through gates, at the same time there are other methods such as hoses for suction of the product, and other highly complex high technology systems. All are extremely expensive and of reduced productivity and profitability, nor do they significantly benefit the ecological damage caused. It has thus become necessary to create a new method, of reduced cost and high yield in the collection of the product, with limited maintenance, and able to be easily placed at the centre of the oil spillage.